The Economist: It Appears Market Conspiracy Theorists Were Right

Three new recently published scientific papers seem to confirm what many have claimed for years: the "efficient markets" are not only inefficient - from an informational standpoint - they are also badly rigged. Of the three papers, the Economist reports, one argues that well-connected insiders profited even from the financial crisis, while the other two go so far as suggesting the entire share-trading system is rigged.

Unlike conventional insider trading cases - which traditionally require fortuitous tip-offs and extensive, expensive investigations, involving the examination of complex evidence from phone calls, e-mails or informants wired with recorders - the papers make imaginative use of pattern analysis from data to find that insider trading is probably pervasive, according to the Economist.

The approach reflects a new way of analyzing conduct in the financial markets. It also raises questions about how to treat behaviour if it is systemic rather than limited to the occasional rogue trader.

The first paper starts from the private meetings American government officials held during the crisis with financial institutions. As discussed here years ago, what was not made public at the time were critical details about the infamous TARP program (which incidentally was created and administrated by current Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari who paradoxically rages every day against bailouts of Too Big To Fail banks), notably how much money would be involved and how it would be allocated. This mattered hugely as the very survival of some institutions was at stake; in the end, hundreds of billions of dollars were pledged. Knowing the structure and scope of the bail-out in advance would have been a vitally important piece of information for investors during this period.

The paper examines conduct at 497 financial institutions between 2005 and 2011, paying particular attention to individuals who had previously worked in the federal government, in institutions including the Federal Reserve. In the two years prior to the TARP, these people’s trading gave no evidence of unusual insight. But in the nine months after the TARP was announced, they achieved particularly good results. The paper concludes that “politically connected insiders had a significant information advantage during the crisis and traded to exploit this advantage.”

Almost as if the Fed was working covertly with Wall Street to make insiders richer, at the expense of the middle class...

The other papers use data from 1999 to 2014 from Abel Noser - a firm used by institutional investors to track trading transaction costs - which covered 300 brokers, and focused on the 30 biggest, through which 80-85% of the trading volume flowed.

"They authors found evidence that large investors tend to trade more in periods ahead of important announcements, say, which is hard to explain unless they have access to unusually good information."

The brokers could acquire such information in several ways, of which the most innocent was that brokers “spread the news” of a particular client’s desire to buy or sell large amounts of shares in order to create a market, much as an auction house might do for a painting. But - it is also possible, the papers suggest - and is much more likely that banks give this information to favoured clients to boost their own business. Strengthening this argument is the finding that large asset managers which use their own affiliated brokers do not lose out.

As The Economist summarizes, "as a result of the findings, large institutions can be both beneficiaries and victims of this sort of information leakage. But in general they are net gainers. The real losers, the papers conclude, are retail customers and smaller asset managers." And, of course, the broader investing public.

As for the punchline:

"Common to all the papers is the recognition that the public markets are, as conspiracy theorists have long argued, not truly public at all" and that "changing the law to fix that may not even be feasible."

"Political connections and the informativeness of insider trades" by Alan D. Jagolinzer, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge; David F. Larcker, Graduate School of Business, Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University; Gaizka Ormazabal, IESE Business School, University of Navarra; Daniel J. Taylor, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University, Working Paper No. 222.

The Economist is a tad bit slow. With 2/3rds of all trading happening in dark pools, the market has been rigged long since the 08-09 debacle. The problem is that the idiots who wrote this still believe there is a "market" when in fact it is a casino as the house wins 70% of the time. You just have to know when to take it off the table and when to let it ride.

The Federal Reserve insider information, all levels and connections, is likely the most rabid of all wealth through advanced information. Not only policy decisions but leaks of speeches by the board members, presidents, advisory members, give themselves, their families and influential friends constant advantage and profit.

The biggest insider trader of all are the Money Power Sith Lords and their Debt-Star Empire.

And yes, the Debt Star is going to implode the economy and asset strip the Muppetry.

The Death Star destroyed planets. The Debt Star is more sophisticated and acts like an economic neutron bomb.

It mind controls people to think the oligarchs will wipe out their trillions in actual money and trillions more in debt paper, all while setting everyone up so they don't see the deflationary depression that will asset strip the globe before any such hyperinflation is even considered.

Its the blatancy of corruption is a clear warning, the fact that they feel no need to conceal it, even to the point of rubbing it in our faces.

If this holds, if there is no popular revolt against, it is our tipping point that tells them they have a free hand to do as they wish.....we recognizing the corruption but also the extreme cost in stopping it. Souls sold cheaply.

When the legal system, financial system, education system, and sovereign defense system of a great and powerful nation are compromised, it's curtains down.

Perfidious Albion, being tea drinkers, read the tea leaves, and decamped! They remembered all of a sudden, their commonwealth, and recalibrated.

Once, a long time ago, light shone from the city upon a hill, now, a foul smell emanates from that city, the light, now a mythical legend. The USA has been executed, what we're witnessing, is the real time putrefaction of her decaying corpse.

THIS IS HUMAN NATURE.....it will never be fair and it will never change. Move on. If you had a chance to know what the next 10 cards were at the Black Jack table would you play.....Of course you fucking would ....all in. Human Nature. That is why they had to get away from a "Backed" currency. A "Backed" currency keeps things in check....we can't have that type of limitation.